Modelling the future

The science of the weather forecast

Over 150 years ago, when Robert FitzRoy - the head of the department that later became the Met Office - coined the term ‘weather forecast’ he was predicting what would happen tomorrow from the weather conditions today. Now, thanks to massive improvements in science and computing ability, we can get detailed five day forecasts for towns and cities across the UK and national predictions for up to 30 days ahead...